Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) held a meeting with the IMF mission team, led by Mission Chief Ms. Sarwat Jahan, as part of the 5th Review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The meeting aimed to gain insights on key financial sector trends, growth and business perspectives, regulatory challenges, among others.
During the meeting, NBA President Mr. Santosh Koirala provided an overview of the current state of the banking sector. He emphasized the significant challenge of low credit growth – primarily due to lack of confidence among entrepreneurs, and pointed out the critical role Government of Nepal could play in addressing the issue. NBA Executive committee members also highlighted several other pressing challenges, including land ceiling issues, rising NPL, challenges to meet the directed sector lending, policy uncertainty, need for development of the bond markets and others.
The IMF team acknowledged Nepal’s untapped opportunities and stressed the importance of achieving minimum of 5-6% consistent economic growth to unlock the country’s full potential. The meeting was an excellent platform for both parties to gain a deeper understanding of the local and global financial landscape and to exchange perspectives on the way forward for the banking sector in Nepal.
